System and method for allowing time-shifted access to multiple programs at the same time

摘要

A method and system for allowing time-shifted access to multiple programs or channels at the same time. A resource manager receives a request to change to a first channel. As a first personal video recorder (PVR) engine writes a media stream of the first channel to a first circular buffer, a playback engine reads the media stream of the first channel from the first circular buffer and sends the media stream to a display. The playback engine discontinues the reading of the media stream of the first channel once the resource manager receives a request to change to a second channel. Here, the first PVR engine continues to write the media stream of the first channel. A second PVR engine writes a media stream of the second channel to a second circular buffer while the playback engine reads the media stream of the second channel from the second circular buffer and sends the read media stream to the display.